PRESS RELEASE
For Immediate Release
March 28, 2018
Contact: Mazie Stilwell, Communications Specialist
(515) 246-2637; [email protected]
STAFF ASSAULT AT STATE TRAINING SCHOOL AT ELDORA SPEAKS TO UNSAFE CULTURE OF EMBOLDENED RESIDENTS
DES MOINES – AFSCME Council 61 President Danny Homan issued the following statement regarding the assault on employees at the State Training School at Eldora:
“We have been warning that the culture created by Disability Rights Iowa (DRI) at the State Training School at Eldora has become dangerous for staff. This week’s assault on staff by residents, who then escaped the facility, is indicative of the escalating violence that has become a dangerous trend. This is caused by emboldened residents being told by DRI that they don’t have to follow staff directives and that staff are not allowed to touch them.
“The witch hunts and constant lawsuits from the attorneys that make up DRI are making the State Training School at Eldora less safe for both residents and staff. When boys can escape after beating up employees, something is seriously wrong.
“Given last year’s overhaul of public employees’ rights, the state employees in Eldora fear retaliation for speaking out on their unsafe working conditions. That is why we are here to say that everyone within the State Training School at Eldora deserves a safe and productive living and working environment.”
The American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees Council 61 represents 40,000 public employees in Iowa including law enforcement and correctional officers, firefighters, mental health workers, professional school staff, emergency responders, and many other workers. AFSCME Council 61 also represents home health care and child care providers across the state and private sector workers at Prairie Meadows, Palmer College of Chiropractic, Des Moines University, and ABM (Marshalltown).
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